Qatar’s Threats of Using Chemical Weapons Against its Dissidents

Washington, DC – Today, the independent DC-based organization SAPRAC is expressing its concern regarding threats made on Qatar’s national television on Monday, October 9, 2017, by an academic from Qatar University, Mohammed Al-Mesfer, who presented himself to the public as an adviser to the Emir of Qatar. He suggested the use of chemical weapons [1] to end the protest of Qatari tribesmen against Doha’s decision to revoke the nationality of Al-Murra tribe’s leader, Shaikh Talib bin Shuraim [2], along with 54 of his tribal members including 18 women. He also suggested the confiscation of their funds, their expulsion from the state and making an example of them for others. This comes after the revocation of the nationality of the tribal sheikh of Al-Hawajer and his family on September 29, 2017, for rejecting Doha’s actions that threaten the internal security of surrounding Gulf states [3].

SAPRAC condemns the Qatari official’s threat on national television, who said that “no matter how many of them gather, either ten thousand or two hundred thousand, a bomb of poison gas can crush all these tribes, and personal championships will no longer exist.” The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits the use of chemical weapons [4], yet the Qatari Government allowed to have these statements issued on national television to express the direction of the government its officials.

This inhumane approach was reported earlier by the Qatari Human Rights Committee in 2005, which included the citizenship revocation of over 300 Qatari families that equate to about 6,000 citizens. In addition, Qatar continues to support the North Korean regime by employing thousands of North Korean labor for its construction projects, in spite of UN Security Council Resolution 2371 on August 5, 2017 [6], to impose restrictions on North Korea’s foreign currency revenues.

SAPRAC cautions against the danger of Qatar becoming an outlet for rogue states seeking to overcome international sanctions. The acceptance of thousands of workers from North Korea and Iran represents indirect Qatari support for these two countries and their nuclear programs that threaten international peace and security. We reaffirm that this is a clear violation of international laws and appeal to the international community to intervene and stop abuses to protect the Qatari people.

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